Posts Tagged ‘Andre Norton’

Not much going on today except for having to take both the cat and the dog to the vets for annuals. The dog loves going, the cat has to be fooled into the carrying case. (Put them in backwards without letting them see it – works every time.)

I see that the courts have decided in favor of Andre Norton’s caregiver and against her lifelong fan in regards to control of the literary estate. Not knowing either party, I’m incapable of rendering judgement on who would do the best job in maintaining Andre’s legacy. It is nice to know that her works will once again be available for reprint. What with all the concentration on YA lit these days, Norton’s novels are a gold mine waiting to be plumbed. There’s the possibility of an appeal which could still delay things so we’re still in wait mode, but at least this thing is coming to a resolution.

I exchanged a couple of emails with Jason Stoddard regarding his “New Marketing for SF” pieces on his blog. It’s nice to see someone who not only makes recomendations but follows his own advice as well. INterestingly enough, Jason has Louis Edelman listed as a friend on his Myspace page, and I just exchanged a coupld of emails with Louis last week concerning my upcoming reviews of InfoQuake and Multireal. (Finished Infoquake, about one third of the way through Multireal – see below for more).

I’m impressed with the accessability displayed by these ‘new’ authors; I’ve yet to not receive a timely response from anyone I’ve had occassion to email – Doctorow, Wolf, Scalzi, Edelman, Frank, Stoddard…

I do agonize quite a bit over writing to them; writing is their business and I’m asking them for ‘free’ time in doing so. I don’t want to come across as annoying, and I try to remember that just because they seemed to appreciate the prior email doesn’t mean that I can start sending them recipes or pictures of my pets. I don’t want to get classified into the ‘stay away’ column.

But my biggest fear is that some ham-handed attempt at getting an idea across is going to be misunderstood. Email, blog commentary, etc., lacks the all important inflection conveyed by expression and tone. There are a million ways to ‘say’ ‘your story sucks’ – from sarcastic to serious, but only one way to type it. Even if you followed it with an lol or a happy face, chances are your intention will be misconstrued.

It’s not all that different from being a fan attending a con, approaching that favorite author with some trepidation – that is until you get to know them (and they you) – but even when you’re on a face-recognition basis, it still doesn’t mean you can monopolize their time. They’re at the con for everyone, not just you.

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I’ll not provide spoilers for my review of Infoquake that will be appaearing in an upcoming issue of Ray Gun Revival other than to say that I’m now on Multireal. You might think that statement would give you a hint, but it doesn’t really. Once the review is out, I’ll offer additional commentary here.

Hell, it would be great if some large media conglomerate decided to sue me in Federal Court – that’s BIG pr, man.

Lacking that avenue of promotional greatness, I’m forced to simply tell you that Chapter 8 of Pulp Comic Story (which has now been retitled Pulp Comic Fairy Tale – something I said I might do a while ago) is now available here.

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A few other things while I’m thinking about it:

Fred Kiesche had to take a sledgehammer to my head to make me realize that his blog – which used to be called The Eternal Golden Braid is now called –

THE LENSMAN’S CHILDREN

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I’ve been thinking about this for a bit: what would entice someone to read the classics if they weren’t already inclined to do so.

I’ve spent a fair number of words exlaining the ‘whys’ here already (do your homework you lazy, good-for-nothing) so let’s just assume (momentarily or otherwise) that they’re valid reasons.

Of course I don’t mean at the expense of contemporary SF. I mean in addition to. As a means of obtaining some grounding, some history, some appreciation, some respect for the people who all the awards are named after (yes dear, there are real people behind those award names and good reasons for naming those awards after them – The Hugo for Hugo Gernsback, father of popularizing the genre – the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, because JWC had a nack for finding and developing new talent within the pages of Astounding SF (and the other award of the same name for best novel, given out by SFRA) – Andre Norton for YA lit, given by SFWA because she wrote so many tales that introduced young-uns to SF – Arthur C. Clarke for Best UK SF, because he helped found the UK SF dynasty and because he was, you know, British – Cordwainer Smith, for rediscovering overlooked authors of merit – Damon Knight, SFWA Grandmaster award because Damon founded the org – James Tiptree – for works that explore gender, because SHE did just that – Philp K. Dick, for having so much of his original work published in paperback – Robert A. Heinlein, for so much excellence – Theodore Sturgeon, for excellent short stories – if it weren’t for those folks we’d be giving out awards named for something stupid like The Spaceship Award or The Raygun Award.

Many of those people worked very hard at what they did and (should) leave a lasting, honored memory. And they deserve to be read, along with all of their brethren and sisteren.

So what I thought was – how about if we poll the contemporary favorites and compile a referral list like they do at BMG for music (if you liked so-and-so, you ought to like whosiswhatsis too).

I mean, we already know that If you like John Scalzi, you’ll probably like Robert A. Heinlein too and If you like David Weber, you’ll probably like A. Bertram Chandler, but who else?

So let’s ask some contemporary authors the following questions:

1. Did you read SF before you were a writer?

2. Who were your favorites?

3. Who do you think influenced you the most?

4. Which of the classic authors do you think your work most resembles?